Be A Friend Everyday

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Take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke.

Great job, graduates.

Thank you, parents, for allowing us to be involved and uh investing in those precious lives.

And uh you'll have to forgive me, I'm trying to compose myself.

Amen.

I guess it's not gonna be easier Tuesday when she actually graduates, and they all graduate.

Anyhow, turn your Bibles to Luke.

So I want to take the next few weeks and take what we've been looking at starting the year, the gospel on the ground.

And we've been looking at instances of Jesus and the disciples and what Jesus did, and I want to take them and make them, if I can, and if through God's word we can make it practical for you and I living right now.

So, what does that look like, the gospel on the ground?

And so we've entitled the next few weeks, Everyday Evangelism.

So, how can we take this task of gospel on the ground and what uh can we do with it?

So, anyway, in Luke there, we're gonna look this morning, Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And um, I was thinking about that, and the title and and the idea, the practical idea is this Jesus was a friend.

Jesus was a friend to the disciples, he was a friend to family members and siblings.

Jesus was a friend, and Eli mentioned this, to the lost.

Thinking about friendships, I thought about my little dog, Charlotte.

I had beagles growing up, and those things loved my dad.

I didn't learn very much about the uh man's best friend from these beagles because they loved my dad and they loved rabbits and they evidently loved to wake up at two in the morning.

Um, but that's all I really remember.

I don't I I didn't have much experience, and then Callie prayed for seven years, literally for a dog.

And one day out of nowhere, my wife, who did not, could not, and anything I knew of her was that pets weren't in our picture.

She's looking up dogs, and we're gonna buy this dog, and uh Callie's prayers are answered.

But we got Charlotte, and a dog I've learned is an honest friend.

A dog won't lie to you.

She always looks forward to seeing us.

That's what Charlotte is.

Uh, and she's made it plain to my house who is her best friend.

It's not a secret in my house.

There is a there, I will say, a close two-way tie between Heather and Callie.

Okay?

There's a tie for first place.

If sleeping is involved, it's definitely Heather.

Okay?

She needs to put herself in Heather's neck, and uh that's where she wants to be.

So I'm I I was gonna say that I was third place, unless Amanda Roper walks in the house, to which I drop to fourth quickly.

But Charlotte makes it plain who she wants to be with.

There's no lying there.

She goes to her best friends if they're available, and I know that I'm fourth place.

Okay?

Um and she's always wanting to be close.

She's always happy to see people.

She wants to eat with me.

If I'm eating, she's in.

She takes walks with me, and generally she doesn't judge me unless I don't give her something that she needs.

If I mess up, my dog keeps on loving me.

And if I do have food, she's an even better friend.

We can learn a lot.

I was thinking, we can learn a lot from a dog when it comes to the area of friendship.

Oh.

Jesus had a team of 12 people that were his friends, that were his discipleship crew.

And then within that crew, there was an inner circle of three that Jesus spent a little more time with.

But what I want us to really key in on today is that phrase that Eli mentioned.

Jesus was called a friend of sinners.

Why was Jesus called a friend of sinners?

And are you called a friend of sinners?

Pray with me.

Father, we love you.

We are thankful today for a momentous day to celebrate.

God, thank you for these graduates.

And we don't take it lightly that it's just another day.

God, this took many years, um, many moments, lots of energy.

And we're thankful for the parents and this stage full of kids that are represented today.

And God, uh, we pray that they feel celebrated this week for the way that they have worked.

And God, I pray for the future for them.

Now, Lord, we pray over this word that you have to speak.

God, get me out of the way.

God, and just uh let your Holy Spirit do its work.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Luke 19, if you will look in verse 1 through 4, the first thing I want you to see in this situation is a lost man who is scared.

A lost man scared.

It says, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

Now, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

And he sought to see who Jesus was, but he could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.

Letter A this morning is this Zacchaeus had prominence and problems.

Zacchaeus, the name Zacchaeus may surprise you, means pure.

Which is interesting because as people viewed him, he was anything but pure to them.

Not considered pure.

He was a chief tax collector.

If you walked around today and said that, it still gets about the same response, am I right?

A chief tax collector in 2,000 years, not as much has changed in regard to the thoughts on this position.

A lot of things changed in 2,000 years, but that hasn't.

In 23, we heard it was announced, and it was all through websites that the IRS was going to add 30,000 IRS agents.

Not one person came to me and said, Pastor, I'm really excited about the way our government is looking at IRS.

Benjamin Franklin once said this one thing is certain in life: death and taxes.

And Jesus said, listen, I'm not against taxes.

Jesus said, Render to Caesar that which is Caesar.

But tax collectors as a class of people were detested by the Jews.

And not only the Jews, but other nations as well.

And the reason being was the account of their harshness, their greed, their deception.

Zacchaeus was involved in a type of taxation, and it was called tax farming.

Tax farmers made extra money by upcharging taxes, making them pretty highly motivated to rip people off.

And so this was Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was hated.

When Zacchaeus came, everybody knew who he was, and he was a wealthy man because of what he was getting away with.

He was extorting.

And Zacchaeus had a lot of life luxuries because of what he did, but it did not afford him two things.

It did not afford him acceptance, and it certainly did not afford him friendship.

So that was his prominence and his problems.

Let's look at letter B.

Zacchaeus had a preoccupation and pursuit.

It says he saw the crowd.

What did that mean?

When he saw the crowd, do you think a person that was hated by a group of people would want to jump up in the middle of that crowd?

Probably not.

There's an interesting reason.

Of course, we know about his stature.

When you're a little kid in Sunday school, you sing about this, but I believe when Zacchaeus saw the crowd, he was reminded of that old feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He felt lost.

He was experienced continual lostness.

He was experiencing hatred from people.

He was experienced this.

Where's my purpose?

Where is my value?

I've got money, but there's got to be more than this old feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Zachia's continually felt lost.

Ephesians 2, 1 and 2 says about the plight of the lost.

You were dead in your trespasses and sin, and once you walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air.

See?

Everyone's plight is that before Christ.

That feeling of lostness, looking and searching for something with meaning, never coming to meaning.

That's lostness.

Lost people are restless, they're anxious and uncertain.

Most lost people live in fright of the fear of death.

And in order not to think about that one day, they feel their lives when they're not working, they're looking for diversions and distractions, and they hate to be alone or being doing nothing.

On the surface, they might seem happy, but deep down there's no meaning.

There's no direction, there's no hope.

And people like this move from drugs to parties to glitz and notoriety, and they follow pop icons, and everything is looking for the pursuit of meaning.

Graduates are getting ready, right?

Everybody's been asking you and asking you since you got in 11th grade.

What's next?

Right?

Like everything in the world you're supposed to know in this one year.

I want to give you some relief.

You might not know, and that might be okay.

You might begin to figure out what's next, but I want to tell you what's next.

If you have Christ, there's this pursuit of a passion, living this giftedness for Him.

If you don't, you're going to pursue what everyone else pursues, and it's emptiness, lostness.

People move from all these things in pursuit of meaning, traversing across the big three Ps popularity, possessions, and pleasures.

If I can get popular, more popular.

If I can get more possessions, then I need to get more money to get those possessions.

I need to have more events happen in my life.

I'm living for the next vacation or the next All-Star Game or the next trophy.

And I want to tell you, without Christ, you still wake up after those things, numb.

Lostness is a scary thing.

Zacchaeus was lost.

Isaiah 53, 6 says, Of all of us, all we like sheep have gone astray, everyone going their own way.

And it says, But the Lord hath laid on him Jesus, the iniquity of us all.

We're all like that.

I read this story this week.

Six-year-old Cody Shehe.

He went, vanished into the wilderness after playing a game with his sister.

Can you imagine, parents?

Cody walked nearly 20 miles from where they had set up camp, slept in a tree overnight, encountered coyotes, and he pierced a hole in the hearts of his parents.

They looked left and they looked right.

They went over meadow, they went through wilderness, and they could not find Cody for over a day.

It seemed like he was a million miles from home when Cody's parents found him.

Imagine that feeling.

Do you know the feeling?

Have you ever been somewhere?

Man, we were in Disney, and for three minutes, Wyatt was lost.

I thought out that was it.

The feeling in those three minutes, some of the worst three minutes of my life.

And it was impactful.

Can you imagine a full day having no clue your child out in the wilderness?

When they found him on the opposite side, can you imagine the relief?

Right?

All the world stops at lostness.

That's how Jesus looks at lostness as well.

Zacchaeus, it says, sought to see Jesus.

This man who had felt the cold shoulder from every angle.

Maybe possibly he heard the reputation of Jesus from Luke 7.

Eli spoke of it.

Jesus was called a friend of sinners.

And there's always a caveat.

Sinners and tax collectors.

It's like they're a special level of sinner.

Right?

And Jesus was a friend to them.

Luke 5, 27 and 28.

You'll see the account where one of the disciples, a tax collector, became a disciple.

So Jesus must receive these types of people.

Students, I was thinking, you just graduated and or getting ready to this week.

And the milestone is worthy of celebration.

It took a lot of years of work.

It took a lot of your parents' effort, your effort.

And many will tell you right now, you're just getting started.

Your pursuit.

Zacchaeus had a pursuit.

He was looking for something more.

Your pursuit, maybe for some of you, it feels like it's just getting started.

I thought back to when I graduated, I made the decision to go to Tennessee Temple University, and this is just real.

I could have cared less at the moment for more education.

I didn't need another test, I didn't need another quiz.

I didn't need another paper.

I made a decision to go to Tennessee Temple because if I didn't, I felt like I would not get closer to God.

I solely made the decision, I'm going to go to this college with the idea that I'm going to walk closer with the Lord.

It was a pursuit.

And I'm so thankful now what God was seeing ahead of me.

My pursuit, my idea, even though it didn't equate to modern day success.

At the end of that road, for many people, the degree and all that, the answers that I didn't have wouldn't have made sense.

But God understood.

And as I was pursuing him, I had found out at that college he was much longer in pursuit of me.

That takes us to the second point this morning that I want us to see.

Zacchaeus was this lonely, scared man.

Point two is a loving man seeking.

Look at verse 4 and 5.

So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.

For he was going to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and saw him, and he said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I'm a stay at your house.

Letter A is this Jesus walked consciously to him.

Jesus was going through Jericho, and it was not by accident that he came across Zacchaeus in this moment.

Jesus walked consciously to him.

There's probably a lot of things you've done in your life, and it was conscious.

I was remembering back my cousin and I were out and we were riding his dirt bike and he was teaching me about his dirt bike, and I got on the thing and I took off as he was telling me something, and too often is the case in my life.

I'm ready to go and the directions escape me.

Anyhow, I took off going and he told me something was gas and something was breaking.

I took off and I threw dirt 30 feet in the air and it's flying back and it's hitting him.

And next thing I know, I'm face to face with a tree.

I fall off the bike, the bike falls on me, and here comes my cousin, and he's yelling, Man, you should have seen that burnout.

It was 30 feet in there.

He's yelling at me, and I've got a tailpipe burning my leg.

I'm like, it doesn't matter.

Get this thing off me.

I'm like, it was not a conscious decision for me to make a great big burnout that day, right?

That was not me deliberately making a decision to do something, but I want to tell you that there is no mistake in the way that Jesus comes upon Zacchaeus.

It says, when Jesus looked up, the word there, the Greek word is anablepo, and it means by implication to recover sight.

Jesus' ministry was filled with opportunities like this.

Luke 19 tells us, and we're going to read it at the close, but Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Zacchaeus, a lost man, feeling his lostness, and Jesus consciously on the road of opportunity, looking for somebody.

I said to the students earlier, just for a moment, would you stop and be present?

Not looking ahead at things that are ahead, or not looking at behind and being upset at things, will you be present enough in moments to be a friend to somebody in need?

Jesus was very present.

And as Jesus journeyed through Jericho, I believe it was calculated.

Jesus worked with the aptitude to be present wherever he was, all the while there's an eternal clock that was leading him back to Jerusalem, leading him back to the cross.

But be sure he was consciously heading towards Zacchaeus.

What makes a good friend, students?

Someone who takes notice, someone who can stop, someone who will talk, and someone who will listen, someone who will visit with you, someone who cares.

The bother of the 21st century is that we all don't want to be bothered.

Think about how your parents grew up.

If they ever talked to you, and some of you you're old enough to remember, people just came over.

Right?

Remember, people just stopped by?

The neighbor just stopped by.

People used to borrow things like milk and eggs and sugar.

And people just came in.

They didn't have to be ready.

There didn't have to be a set time.

They didn't have to check your calendar or your Google for three weeks.

Like the world has become this thing, and people say it about others.

Well, I didn't want to bother you.

I didn't want to be a bother.

I don't want to bother.

I don't want to be bothered.

I don't want to be a bother.

Right?

We're so bothered.

Friends are okay with bothering.

When I was thinking about this, uh, my sister and my family, they were planning to come here.

They got stuck stuck in an airport for 10 hours and their flight got canceled.

Um, but it was gonna be much funnier because my sister was gonna be here.

But my sister growing up was friends with everyone.

She was very popular, and but I I thought something was wrong with her.

Like she was friends with everyone.

She had, you know, I'm not proud of that now, but she had one friend who I called Lisa the Toad.

I'm not proud of it, okay?

She would call on the phone, and I don't know why, but she sounded to me like how a frog would sound.

And Jen, it didn't matter to her.

She was she was popular, but she liked everyone.

Everyone was her friends, and she's still that person today.

I look at my sister and I go, there's not something, there's not some agenda.

She just loves and cares for people, and she'll stop in the middle of anything.

She'd be in a grocery store.

You know, can we say the same of ourselves?

Jesus was conscious about Zacchaeus.

Jesus, the friend of sinners.

Think about who Jesus stopped for.

Was Jesus going to be bothered by a leper?

No, everyone else would walk a whole nother side of the road.

But when a leopard came, Jesus wasn't bothered by a leper.

Jesus went to a leopard, and crazier than that, Jesus touched a contagious leper.

Jesus healed a paralytic, right?

Someone who was struggling.

There was a woman wiping Jesus' feet with her tears, and a Pharisee who was in the room said, if this man were any kind of a godly person, he would know that the person wiping his feet with her tears is a sinner.

Jesus didn't stop her.

Jesus didn't ask her to get out of that room.

In Luke 8, we see Jesus encountering a demoniac.

Now listen, I got okay.

Now this is one where I'm like, it's a little scary.

Jesus healed Mary Magdalene, who had seven spirits.

Was Jesus gonna be bothered?

No, Jesus was gonna be a friend.

The woman at the well was a Samaritan.

They had no dealings with Samaritans.

She was covered up in adultery.

Jesus sat down to her and talked to her about living water.

Jesus forgave.

Now listen, he spoke out against sin.

You know, he was called a wine bever because he sat around with people that drank.

It wasn't that Jesus, Eli, was participating.

He wanted them to have help.

He wanted that lostness to have something that could fill them.

He forgave.

He spoke out against sin.

He healed.

He said, Go and sin no more.

But he was no doubt on a life mission, seeking and saving the lost.

He was consciously seeing Zacchaeus.

Let her be.

Jesus was a companion to him.

He was a companion to him.

He called him by name.

He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I'm going to your house.

He said, Zacchaeus.

He didn't say publican.

He didn't say tax man.

He didn't say thief.

He didn't give a dirty look and say, oh.

He said, Zacchaeus.

When we were at Calvary Baptist Church, it wasn't long that we were there.

We were celebrating an anniversary service, and they brought in the founding pastor, Herbert Fitzpatrick.

And Herbert was about 80 years old at the time that I met him.

And he just had a way.

He was a charismatic guy.

People loved him.

And it had been over 30 years since he had been the pastor of that church.

Probably more than that at the time that I met him.

And I was in the lobby with him.

He wanted me to be around him.

Every time that he was around, he wanted me to be around.

So I'd just be around Herbert.

And I could tell you some funny stories, but uh he did make me go to the Gaither Museum.

Anyhow.

Y'all, any.

The Gaither Museum is a box with recording like seven trophies.

Like, I was like, what are we doing?

Anyway, he wanted to see it.

He was like, I think you better pray about it, Rick.

I was like, I got work to do.

He's like, I think you better pray about it.

So there I was with Herbert in the anyhow.

Um, as people were walking through that lobby, 30 years since being the pastor of that church, I watched him call everyone by name.

If he hadn't been there in a year and he was 80, it'd be a pretty astounding feat.

He hadn't been the pastor of that church for 30 years.

There wasn't too many.

If they weren't a visitor, he knew who they were by name.

And I thought, wow.

He knows everyone by name.

What does that mean?

He stopped and took the time to know people.

He stopped and cared.

In our little world of churches, I mean, this was like Herbert, Calvary Baptist Church became a megachurch before there were mega churches.

They had 2,500 people in Sunday school in the 60s.

Like that wasn't something that, you know, and it grew another church.

And here this man, one by one, he wasn't somebody to himself.

He knew everyone by name.

The point that I want to get to.

Right?

Seniors, you're going into a new, you know, some of you guys, you may be juniors or you're moving up.

Do you know lower classmen by name?

Do you stop to care about people?

Church.

I have had people time after time, and I know we're growing.

I'm man, I'm excited about what God's doing.

And people say to me often, man, I don't know half the people at our church.

Why?

Stop and get to know somebody by name.

Stop and be present.

Become a friend.

Make the time.

Listen, I'm preaching to me.

I've got to do better.

I meet a lot of new people.

Do you take the time to slow down and care to make new friends?

Listen to this.

Isaiah 43:1 says, But now, O Israel, says the Lord who created you, he who formed you, fear not, for I have redeemed you.

Isaiah 43:1

I have called you by your name.

You are mine.

God thought enough to let his people know that he calls them my name, Yah Israel, which means God's contender.

Be a friend.

Are you here this morning and you have some struggles when it comes to friendship when you think on it?

Have you been let down by a friend?

Are you carrying around the weight of a friend who hurts you or a parent who hurts you or a spouse or an ex-spouse, an employer?

I want to say to you two things.

One, forgiveness is for you.

Forgiveness is for you.

No strings.

It helps them, but it's for you.

And the second thing I want to tell you is no one ever cared for you like Jesus.

When we were at Tennessee Temple, I learned of a name, Charles Weigel.

Charles Weigel was the name of one of the buildings, the music department building.

And I knew of it, but didn't know of him or any of his story.

Well, one day I went, that name came back to me, and I went kind of searching through it.

And I thought, who is Charles Weigel?

Well, at age 61, Charles Weigel came back from an evangelistic rally.

And when he got home, he found that his life, his wife of all these years, had left him.

She said, I'm done with this type of work.

I'm done with this life.

And with very little explanation, Charles Weigel's wife left him.

And he said, I was despondent.

His friends close to him, when you get into the story, says Charles Weigel was suicidal, that he was very depressed during this time in his life.

He continued in ministry, and during this heartbrokenness, Charles Weigel began pinning words to a song.

And I asked Miss Niva today, y'all, I need you to go back and put on your hymn book singing.

This is an old good song, but it's written by Charles Weigel in the depths of despair as he needed a friend.

Y'all will take a listen to Miss Niva.

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus.

Since I found in him a friend so strong and true, I would love to tell you how he changed me completely.

He did something that no other friend could do no one else for me.

And darkness from me.

And darkness from me.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nyla.

Can you identify with that story?

That's Zacchaeus's story.

That's Charles Weigel's story.

If you know him as Savior today, that's probably your story.

Weigel ended up ministering for 30 additional years into his 90s.

And I think that friend got him through dark stages of his life.

Students, you're getting ready to start a path of unknowns.

I know that it's both exciting and scary.

I want to tell you.

No one cares for you like Jesus.

Parents, you're gonna have to let go.

And it's exciting and scary.

No one cares for you like Jesus.

You may have a health prognosis today that's scary.

No one cares for you like Jesus.

You may get let go of at work.

But no one cares for you like Jesus.

You may be down.

Things may be bad in your home.

I want to tell you, no one cares for you.

Not like Jesus.

You're gonna get hurt, and no one cares for you like him.

See, the world saw a small man, both in stature and in what he did.

They saw a thief, a nuisance, a letdown.

Except Jesus.

Jesus saw potential.

Jesus saw Zacchaeus and he saw in a whole different way.

He saw a friend.

Jesus saw Zacchaeus and saw value.

Jesus saw Zacchaeus and he saw what not what what not what was, but what could be.

Aren't you glad that's how Jesus looks at you?

Not what was, but what could be.

You might be here today and you're in your 70s.

And I want to tell you, Jesus does not look at what you've just become.

He also looks at what still can be.

Man, Pastor Danny used to say over and over and over, at CCW, we're not interested in your past.

We're interested in your future.

And God's got a bright future for you.

Jesus has plans for you.

The world saw all kind of things when they saw Zacchaeus.

But Jesus saw an opportunity, someone worthy of investing in.

And that takes us to the third point this morning.

Lastly, a life marked by salvation.

Verse 6 and 7.

So Zacchaeus made haste and came down and received him joyfully.

But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.

Of course, they complained.

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I'll restore fourfold.

And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Letter A, we see that Zacchaeus was receptive.

He was receptive to what Jesus offered.

Jesus said, Come down, make haste.

I'm coming to your house today.

Interesting in Luke 18, Jesus encounters a Pharisee, a publican, and a rich young ruler.

So it's all this back and forth with people and having to do with wealth and possessions and people in certain places he encounters in Luke 18, a Pharisee, a publican, and a rich young ruler.

Look at verse 22 and further in Luke chapter 18, as Jesus counsels with the rich young ruler.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

Now a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He too was looking to fill that lostness.

So Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good?

No one is good but one.

That is God.

You know the commandments, and he goes to him and he said, All these things I've kept from my youth.

Verse 22.

So when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, You still lack one thing.

Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

We see a contrast in the chapter before as Jesus comes upon a man and he hears Jesus' message and he was not receptive to it.

It pains him to think following Jesus means everything.

Did he mean everything?

It says Zacchaeus.

He jumped out of that tree, he ran to his house, he received him with joy.

Zacchaeus is different because he's receptive.

He obeyed what Jesus said, and he did it with joy.

It's interesting, you'd have to backtrack in Luke chapter 10, verse 5 and 6.

Luke 10:5

It says, But whoever's house you enter, first say peace to this house.

If there is a son of peace, you will have rest in this house.

He said, In the Jewish style, a man who has any good or bad quality is called the son of it, whatever they are.

And Jesus was relaying that Christian missionaries needed to stay with men filled with peace.

Jesus says to Zacchaeus, now, I'm coming to stay in your house today.

He told the disciples, don't stay in someone's house lest they be filled with peace.

What do you think changes Zacchaeus' life?

That he is coming to abide with him.

He's going to go stay with a man of peace.

Jesus instructed the disciples, if you're not received by a person like this, wipe the dust off and keep on going.

Students, are you marked by being a receiver of what Jesus says to you?

Are you receptive?

Have you turned cold, church?

Jesus wants you to receive.

The word of God is going to be proclaimed today.

Now you can walk out of here and say, that's not for me, that's for my friend, that's for my husband, right?

You've been poking him already.

Or is it for you?

Will you receive today?

Zacchaeus received.

John 1, 11 through 12.

Because we've been saying this for a long time, and it needs to be clear because we want to teach soteriology in this church.

What is the study of salvation?

In churches, for most of your life, you've heard someone say, you need to accept Jesus, receive Jesus as your Savior.

What does that mean to receive him?

Am I picking him up?

Is he how do how do I receive Jesus?

John 1, 11 through 12 says, those who would receive Him, to them He gave the power to be the sons of God.

It's meaning accept that He is the means to cleanse that emptiness.

He is the means for repentance and faith.

He is the one, He is the worthy propitiation of God's wrath.

Now we also have the opportunity to reject Him as Savior.

Meaning, we say in our mind, I don't need Him to be saved.

I'm drowning and I'll find another way, or I'm just drowning and I don't recognize that I'm drowning.

I'm gonna live my life and say, it's really not that bad.

You receive or you reject, there's not another option that you have with Jesus.

And I want to say this also.

There are many who have said by lip, I have accepted Jesus as my Savior.

But by life, it looks like a stiff arm.

I've accepted him.

I believe in him.

I'm coming to church.

But when Jesus speaks to you, does he say, really, it's been a stiff arm?

Intellectually, I'm gonna say Jesus is Lord, but by life and by steps, it's not saying the same thing.

It says Zacchaeus made haste.

Now, I don't know if you ever seen a short man run fast.

You want me to take all he made haste, he ran home and received him.

How?

It said, with joy.

Joyfully have you received Jesus.

Well, let her be.

Zacchaeus was receptive.

Jesus is redemptive.

Zacchaeus stood, verse 8.

He says, Look, Lord, I've given half of my goods.

If I've taken anything, I'm gonna restore it four times as much.

Jesus said to him, here's the key, today salvation has come to this house.

Redemptive.

The word redemptive means ag orazo.

Exag orazo, and it means to pay a price to recover something.

To pay a price to recover.

Interestingly, Zacchaeus begins to become a redeemer himself.

He says, I've extorted, and anyone that I've taken from, I'm about to give four times.

I'm gonna pay the price four times.

Not just what I've taken, but four times what I've taken to anyone who I've hurt, anyone who I've had greed against.

And then I'm gonna empty out half of all.

Remember the rich young ruler?

He walked away.

Jesus said, Sell all you have and give.

And he said, Oh man, really?

That's what following Jesus?

Zacchaeus got it.

And nobody told him to do those things.

He started paying back, redeeming.

And then he said, You know what else?

Half of all.

What do I need with all this stuff anyway?

It ain't filling this.

I just found what fills this.

And he said, Here it goes.

Half of all of his goods.

The redemption of Jesus Christ in his heart created a spirit in him to redeem.

Jesus is redeemer, church.

Romans 3, 23 and 24 says, For all sin and come short of the glory of God.

But being justified freely by his grace through the redemption of his blood that is in Christ Jesus, we are redeemed.

What Jesus did on the cross redeemed you and I.

Just look at it.

You see the immediate change.

He went from extorting money to freely giving.

Does that happen without a change of heart?

And then he restores fourfold.

The before and after.

Well, there's an interesting thing he says, Jesus says about him.

And you'd miss it if you didn't just take the time to uncover it.

But he says, Because today's salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.

What does that mean?

Now, in the culture of that day, it meant something pretty deep to those people.

Especially in people who were just jockeying for position, for nationalism, for all that it was.

A true son of Abraham, this would have been a cultural idiom to say he is for real.

You ever have a friend who says that about you?

Man, he's a real one.

He's the real deal.

You can count on him.

And there's sometimes nothing greater for a man.

Man, am I right?

He's for real.

He's genuine.

He's authentic.

He says, he is a true son of Abraham.

They believe salvation came in becoming an inheritor of what Abraham was blessed with.

Jesus says, Zacchaeus is for real.

What's happened to him is for real.

For Zacchaeus, imagine that moment.

A seeker, a man desirous of care, wandering and looking, hesitant to jump in the crowd for he might get beaten.

I'm going to climb in a tree and just look out, seeking for something to fulfill him.

And this man gives kindness that would have resounded in his ears like nothing else.

This is the real deal.

Can you imagine?

Galatians explains it.

Galatians 3, 6 and 7, just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore, know that any of those who are of the faith are sons of Abraham.

It explains what happens.

He says, Abraham, it was accounted to him as righteousness, he was saved.

And then we become sons of Abraham by this adoption.

Jesus' mission was to pay the price to redeem.

You have to pay a price to be a friend.

Sometimes that means selling all your goods.

Sometimes that means selling all this stuff that's in here.

Jesus shows us the key to the gospel on the ground, church.

Everyday evangelism is being a friend.

You know what Jesus told the disciples?

He said, the mark of a Christian, our bad sign to the world, our biggest advertisement is y'all loving each other.

He said, the mark of a Christian everywhere.

The way that they'll know CCW is different, you're going to love people.

And what does love mean?

That's a whole nother sermon, 1 Corinthians 13.

But you're going to love people.

That's the mark of the Christian, love of the brother.

The marker of your salvation is friendship.

He was asked what the greatest command was.

You know what Jesus said?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And then love your neighbor.

Some of us would say, Man, I do a good job at part one.

Are we a friend to a neighbor?

You know what else he said?

He told the disciples, those were his greatest commands.

He said, And if you follow my commands, you're my friend.

You follow my commands, you're more than just a servant.

You're a friend of Jesus.

Well, let me give you just a few practical tips and we'll have an invitation.

So how do I do this every day, Pastor?

What does that look like for me in my day-to-day, in my job, in my world?

Number one, find a way.

This would be good to write down.

Find a way to be among the lost.

I'm not telling you, don't leave here and say, Pastor said I need to go hang out at the bar.

Be among the lost.

They're everywhere.

Are you present among them?

Number two, this is something I'm having to learn.

But learn with me.

There is a difference between being friendly and being a friend.

There's a difference.

And every one of you here are friendly.

Are you a friend?

How do we do that?

Number three, be hospitable.

Look for an opportunity to care for people.

Open your door.

Cook a meal.

Care for people.

Number four, be a good listener.

I spent 45 minutes the other morning not working out at the gym.

I was trying to be a friend.

I was just trying.

Thank God that day that I did what I should do.

A lot of days I put on my earphones and I get after things and I just try to forget the world or whatever.

That was a good day.

Be a listener.

Number five, last one.

Galatians 6.2 tells us to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Jesus said, You want to fulfill the law.

Find someone hurting and help them.

Take them on your back.

Help them get carried through.

In the last year, my family has been through some of the hardest things we've been through.

And you find out a lot about friends.

You know?

Help someone.

Bear a burden with them.

Find a lost person and bear their burden.

They're gonna go, what is different about them?

Why do they even care?

When life is so busy, just a few things.

Well, I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes this morning.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.